ASX 200 ends week +0.40% at 8,716.6 as property, utilities and health care lead and data centre stocks slide
ASX 200 week close: 8,716.6 (+0.40%) S&P 500 Friday close: 7,811.54 (+0.59%) Sentiment: mixed
The week on the ASX
The S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,716.6 on 9 October 2026, up 34.5 points or 0.40% from 8,682.1 on 2 October, as rate-sensitive defensives gained and banks, miners and data centre stocks fell. The index rose on Monday (+0.05%) and Tuesday (+0.57%), slipped 0.09% on Wednesday, fell 0.77% on Thursday as the US Dollar Index reached its highest since April 2025, and recovered 0.64% on Friday after the US 10-year yield eased to 5.23% from a 5.36% intraday high, its highest since 2002.
The Australian 10-year yield rose to 5.41% on Wednesday and the 30-year reached 5.88%, the highest since that benchmark launched in October 2016 (Market Index). Banks fell about 1.5% each on Thursday with no price-sensitive filings, and the financials index finished the week 0.31% lower. MGH.AU lost 32.01% for the week after Firmus, the data centre operator in which Maas holds 3.2%, first faced reports of an IPO price cut and then withdrew its ASX listing application on Friday. The All Ordinaries rose 0.26% to 8,877.7, and the AU VIX fell 3.01% to 10.93.
Sector scorecard (5-day)
The S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT index rose 3.73% in the week to 9 October 2026, the best of the 11 sectors, while information technology fell 1.97%.
- Best: A-REITs (+3.73%), with GMG.AU +4.82% to $27.16 and ARF.AU +16.34%
- Worst: Information Technology (-1.97%), after a 2.90% fall on Tuesday and a 2.23% rebound on Friday
- Dispersion (best minus worst): 5.70 pts
- Utilities rose 3.64% and health care 3.53%; CSL.AU gained 4.84% to $183.84 after a US$355 million upfront deal with Alentis Therapeutics on Monday.
- Consumer discretionary added 2.40% and staples 2.31%, while materials fell 1.00% and the All Ords Gold index 0.35%.
- 2.00% was the energy sector's gain, with December Brent up 1.68% to US$104.43.
Top movers, week ending 9 October
| Ticker | Week | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| ARF.AU | +16.34% | Goodstart deal covers 20 of 27 Edge-run Arena centres |
| MAH.AU | +11.00% | Two-year, $98 million contract extension at Daisy Milano |
| RXL.AU | +10.92% | Project finance close, then high-grade United North drilling |
| TLC.AU | +6.79% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| CWY.AU | +6.56% | EQT reaffirmed its $3.13 cash proposal after due diligence |
| MGH.AU | -32.01% | Firmus withdrew its IPO; Maas holds a 3.2% stake |
| ELS.AU | -22.37% | Drone and defence names fell; -11.55% on Tuesday |
| SKS.AU | -19.58% | Founders sold 10.0 million shares at $10.60; Firmus exposure |
| EQR.AU | -18.75% | Fell after record September-quarter cash of $82 million |
| SRL.AU | -18.68% | Fell 11.05% Friday; no price-sensitive filing this week |
WBT.AU fell 25.93% for the week and sits below the screen's market-cap floor, so the table omits it; it denied bankruptcy-risk media claims on 7 October. MP1.AU lost 15.94% and DRO.AU 14.25% as data centre and drone stocks fell. Uranium names reversed after Wednesday's rally on a 3,590 MW Alphabet and Constellation Energy power deal: DYL.AU finished -12.50%, BOE.AU -11.40% after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to Sell, and PDN.AU -7.50%.
Friday US session
- S&P 500: 7,811.54 (+0.59%)
- Nasdaq: 27,366.17 (+0.64%)
- Dow: 51,654.90 (+0.83%)
- VIX: 14.84 (-3.70%)
The S&P 500 rose 0.59% on 9 October 2026 and 1.15% for the week, as technology shares recovered from Thursday's fall on a Financial Times report that put OpenAI's annualised revenue at US$50 billion; Bloomberg later reported OpenAI expects to reach US$70 billion by year end (Yahoo Finance). The University of Michigan's preliminary October sentiment index fell 1.8 points to 46.3, its lowest since May, against a consensus of 48. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile each fell more than 7% after SpaceX agreed to buy a US 800 MHz spectrum portfolio for a Starlink mobile service; TLS.AU had already lost 1.85% on Friday in Sydney on the same news.
December gold rose 1.52% on Friday to US$4,220.30/oz, up 1.16% for the week. December Brent finished at US$104.43 after President Trump said Russia had agreed to supply diesel to the US. AUD/USD closed the week at 0.6988, up 0.45%, which trims the Australian-dollar value of US-dollar earnings at CSL.AU.
Macro themes that played out
Westpac's consumer sentiment index fell 4.7% to 80.4 in October, the first reading since the RBA lifted the cash rate 25 bp to 4.60% on 29 September, and more than 80% of respondents expect mortgage rates to rise again. The Ai Group Australian Industry Index fell 21.1 points to -25.5 in September, and ABS data on 7 October showed private approvals for dwellings other than houses down 21.2% in August.
China's markets reopened on Thursday 8 October after the National Day holiday. Lithium carbonate futures fell 4.0% to 116,700 yuan a tonne on Friday, their lowest since December 2025, and PLS.AU finished the week 5.41% lower. FMG.AU reported September-quarter shipments of 46.8Mt, down 6%, with net debt up to US$2.8bn, and RIO.AU fell 2.86% on Thursday as the US Dollar Index rose. The US 10-year yield reached 5.36% intraday after a 30-year Treasury auction before easing to 5.23%.
Week ahead, 12 to 16 October (AEDT)
- Tue 13 Oct 11:30: RBA minutes of the 29 September Monetary Policy Board meeting, which lifted the cash rate to 4.60%.
- Tue 13 Oct (US time): the major US banks begin reporting September-quarter earnings.
- Wed 14 Oct 23:30: US consumer price index for September, with real earnings.
- Thu 15 Oct 11:30: ABS Labour Force for September.
- Thu 15 Oct after 15:00: RBA Annual Report 2026.
- Thu 15 Oct 23:30: US producer price index for September.
- Fri 16 Oct 23:30: US import and export price indexes.
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